Serenity
by stargirl5
Summary: Serenity is on the run with the aid of her friends… but she doesn't seem to good at keeping hidden. She saved this man's life with the cost of revealing herself--was it worth it?


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Serenity

CHAPTER ONE

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By Stargirl

[Hi everyone! ^_^;; I'm sorry I'm having a little trouble with chapter 7 for Tsuki no Namida, though I do have about 5 or 6 pages written. I've been trying to take a break from it and working on my site. I'll get it out as soon as I can. For now… I thought I'd post this. It's been on my comp for quite awhile now. This is one of the stories I have serious brainstorming to do until I know what the heck is going on myself… @.o An yeah, original title, no? It's very likely to change. Suggestions are always welcome. ^___^ Hope you enjoy! --star ]

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"Quiet Serenity."

"I can't stand it, Rei!" Serenity whispered harshly, heartened gaze transfixed on the fight. She raised a disgusted hand at the crowd. "It's horrible! How can they enjoy this?" 

Mina's soft blue eyes peeked under the shade of her hood. "Please understand. We can't stand it anymore then you, but this isn't our business. And we need to be discreet, no one must see you."

The five of them turned, silent cloaked figures in the midst of a roaring crowd. Serenity's eyes squinted with their frustrated tears, her brow furrowed and hands fisted stiffly by her sides. It wasn't right.

The monster gave a battle scream, buffed and pale arms the size of logs raised in the air. It was obvious he was winning… and enjoying it. The grin, rows of white with dual fangs, the upper indenting its black lips. It made her stomach turn. 

The man in the rink was on one knee and gritting his teeth. His body was like a Greek statue, tanned biceps proudly showing his strength. He only wore simple black pants and boots, though those were shredded. Blood stained his side and mingled with his wild black hair. He stared coldly up at the mocking thing, intense blue eyes, rebellious and strong. He was impressive… but human all the same, and clearly loosing. 

Serenity frowned, turning her head to the pedestal risen above the crowd. The leaders sat smug and superior, urging the crowd on. The human was giving an impressive fight and the people loved it. Very successful night. 

The monster, Rogan, started shouting to the crowd. "What should I do to this weakling? Let him live?"

The crowd instantly went wild and their answer obvious from their screams. Kill him. Anger thundered inside of her, mixing disturbingly with the sick feeling. Her chest rose faster as she looked at the arena, at the man. Rogan would kill him. Mockingly, with hard growling laughs. 

Mouth set in a thin line, Serenity pulled away her brown hood and started to push her way through the crowd. The girls behind her desperately called for her to come back. She ignored them and pushed past the swarm of moving bodies, occasionally turning her head at an odor from a pale blue man, or the slobbering brown lug. With a soft oomph, she stepped out of the crowd and stood in the space before the arena. No one had noticed her. She walked up to the steel barrier, staring at Rogan who was laughing and urging the crowd on. 

"Serenity!" she noted the faint struggling voices from the crowd. Her friends were making their way to her. But she wasn't going back. 

She tucked in some air and yelled. "Stop this at once!"

The blare of the room swallowed her demand. Gritting her teeth, she yelled louder. "I said stop!"

Rogan, still grinning, turned his ugly head curiously. Seeing her he laughed. 

He turned to the audience. "Someone wants me to stop? Do you share this opinion?" His voice boomed laughingly, the crowd giving him the reply he expected. 

She gritted her teeth and smoothly jumped over to steel barrier, higher then needed, and ending with a graceful flip. The crowd took notice of her, and Rogan finally paid her attention with a raised eyebrow. 

Her blonde hair, brought up into dual buns and falling in twin streams, had come free from her scratchy cloak and reached her knees. Barely 5 3" and with a fragile and refined bone structure and bright blue eyes, she did make a sight. Facing the barbaric champion. 

"If you take this one step farther, you will regret it," she swore to him with serious eyes. Her voice though angered wasn't yelled, but the crowd had heard her and was laughing. They must have had some microphone installed for the arena. Her brow creased at the bent over Rogan as he clutched his sides. His hoarse cries of laughter rung throughout the entire place even without the help of the amplification.

"Get out of here, girl!" Rogan didn't say this, too busy laughing. And the voice was strained. 

She turned to the dark haired man---Endymion, she thought the leader's had called him. 

His expression was angered. "I said leave!" 

"Why do I have the feeling that that isn't from concern for my fate?" she responded as she walked to his fallen body. Her expression hardened. He looked worse close up. 

"You're an idiot," he bit out as she kneeled beside him, inspecting his wounds---and there were some bad ones. 

"Trust me, you're not the first to believe that," she said easily. The gash on his side looked the worst. She laid her hands on the wound, ignoring the gooey blood and the feel of his chest. Instantly, she could feel the skin attaching and weaving back together. Pulling her hands away, she wiped them on her cloak. He was staring at her. "You should thank me. Not only will you not die, but you won't even have a scar."

Her brow furrowed. "Fool, we'll both be dead."

As if to prove his point, Rogan spoke to her. "You, come here!"

She stood up. "Least I know you won't die on me before I come back." 

Walking up to Rogan, and stopping a foot before him, she gave a humored smile. "You called for me?"

A black eyebrow rose on his pale head. "You think you're going up against me, girlie?"

"Yes---ugly, I think I am."

Rogan roared with laughter and turned his head to the leaders who still sat carelessly on the pedestal, just now with raised eyebrows. "She does got spirit, 'aint she boss?" He yelled to the center man with locks of silver hair. She looked at the man, something stirring in her stomach. Reverting her gaze, she stared at the monster at hand.

"Should I give her a freebie?" The crowd, obviously finding it humorous, agreed.

Rogan spread out his thick arms, leaving his bulging white chest open.

"Bad move," she murmured. After all, a monster gives you a freebie, you take it---never mind if you need it or not. Swiftly, she pushed off the ground and swung her fisted hand. It connected with his thick jaw with a satisfying crack. 

Rogan stilled for a moment, head still stretched to the right with his lumber hands cradling his jaw. He stared at her and then straightened. "Not bad, kid. Now it's my turn." He rolled his head and shoulders, veins appearing on his log-like neck. His arm shot out with hammer intentions as it streaked toward her. She only took a quick step back, but to the crowd, she might as well have disappeared and reappeared a foot away. 

Rogan's black eyes widened a fraction, chest lifting angrily with air. Lifting her own eyebrow, she gave a few high and swift kicks and punches, Rogan dodging everyone until shooting into the air with a smug look. 

She watched him with a laugh. Was flying supposed to make her impressed? Shrugging, she flew in the air to join him. The crowd had quieted. Rogan's grin wiped from his face and he lunged toward her. Faster then the eyes of most of the audience, she shifted, and wasn't seen until she was behind him. He turned, his white face almost getting some color. "I don't want to kill you," she said. 

With a growl, he went after her again. She dodged, not bothering to attack. Rogan flew back, lifting up his right hand. A glowing ball sparked into existence and levitated above his palm. He laughed and the energy ball shot to her face. 

  
She didn't bother to move. The ball exploded a foot from her face as if colliding with a forcefield, the only effect it had was to ruffle her hair in the gust.

Some of the crowd started cheering, others just sat and stared. She looked toward the man. He had stood up, staring at her with widened eyes. Quickly averting her gaze, she blinked to find Rogan rushing towards her with a thundering roar. Stubborn. She rose her arm, fingers dangling idly, her index finger pointed straight. A thin beam of gold streamed out, purposely hitting only his arm. He stopped short, clutching his arm, breaths wild and ragged. His teeth were gritted against the pain. 

  
Serves him right, the big goon. When he made a move to continue at her, limp arm or not, she lifted her palm facing him. It was a trick she learned, pushing out the power and bringing it back in, leaving a sharp gust of wind traveling in the direction it originally headed. It smashed into Rogan and ground him to the dirt floor. 

The light beating down in the area blared in her eyes and left sweat to film at her forehead and neck... Hurry up. She bit her lip. But how to get the stubborn mule unconscious without killing him? She didn't want to kill anyone. The girl's always said she didn't know her own strength at times.

Rogan was still on his back. He lifted his hand. Serenity moved from the multitude of glowing balls at the last minute. Hanging still unruffled in the air. 

"Get him, kill him!" The crowd's cheer had change. She finally noticed them. They were cheering for her now. This was still just a game to them. She frowned. If only she could wake them up. They were horrible.

Before her thoughts continued, a noise made her look up at the ceiling, the hole that Rogan's attacks created. She squinted past the lights, the light near the attack was destroyed though, and she made out blue electricity sparking in the mechanics of the hole. Her mouth dropped open and she dropped quickly to the ground, shielding her face just as the explosion came. The crowd panicked and became a swarming chaotic mass. 

Serenity looked up when the debris finished dropping. It was a mini explosion, a line of fire trailed across the ceiling. Definitely not the end. Now, would be a good time to get out, she thought faintly.

She scanned the arena, some guards and workers were helping Rogan up, and Endymion wasn't in sight. 

"Serenity!" A hand latched onto her shoulder. 

A breathless Mina stood there. "Let's get out of here!" 

Raye who was panting beside her spoke up. "You really know how to be discreet, don't you?"

She smiled sheepishly as they entered the dangerous stampede. "Admit it, you were glad I stepped in!" she yelled back, struggling against the poking and jabbing limbs and bodies. Her hand slipped from Mina's. 

"Serenity!"

She gasped at the separation. People banged into her from all angels, human and non-human alike. This is why she hated being short! She looked up only to realize she had been herded into the hallways. There wasn't enough room to fly over the people's heads. She gritted her teeth as she was jarred from in back. Her eyes darted, up since it was the only way to look. There had to be something…. 

There! Her senses latched onto airshaft above that was quickly approaching. Timing it, her arms began to lift, every push from the bodies around her ignored. Now! She flew up, escaping the cage of people as she pushed open the door to the shaft, sighing as she lay on the steel pathway. She couldn't sit up. Ugh, why couldn't they make these things bigger? 

She turned onto her stomach, contemplated for a moment, which way to go. The direction everyone was going below would be to the right… but she had no guarantee how this pathway version went, most likely not outside. At least the other way she knew it led into the Arena. God, she hated feeling caged. And… if nothing else exploded yet, maybe that was all there was after all. It just gave everyone a scare. Biting her lip, she crawled, finding it aggravatingly difficult with the dress-like cloak. Soon, she saw the blinds and bits of the Arena, kicking the metal barrier and jumping to the ground below, which happened to be the top pathway to the layered rows of seats. 

She stared across the empty seats. Felt weird to have it quiet in there. As she had expected, that was probably all the excitement the building was going to have. A wire drooped down from the ceiling, crackling slightly on the end, but fairly innocent. Turning her head, she spotted a doorway to some of the balcony seats. Good, those won't nearly be as crowded. Taking a quick peek to make sure no one else was in the area, she flew up towards it, landing softly before the door. It was really a blessing that it happened, she thought as she pulled the hood over again and begun walking through the hallway. The focus was taken off of her, giving her a good chance to disappear. She was just doing a fantastic job of keeping in hiding!

That's it, she scolded herself. No more flying, fighting, powers, ANYTHING from now on. 

She collided with a body. Startled, she jumped back, eyes widening at the young leader with silver hair. Of all people---no! She stepped back. He just stood there and stared. 

Shivering, she decided to push her luck and step back again. His hand shot out and attached to her arms. Her mouth dropped. "Let go!"

"You're the one from back there?" he said, voice soft. Before she knew it, he had pulled away her hood and was tugging one of the streams of hair from her hairstyle. Ohhhhhhh! Raye said I should've put my hair down! Maybe he's only connected me to the arena… he can't know who I really am. 

"Serenity, is it?" he murmured, and a finger caressed her cheek. 

Her eyes widened, at the use of her name or the caress she couldn't say or contemplate. She jerked out from his grasp, turning and running down one of the hallways at the intersection. Looking back, she saw he wasn't following her. Her brow furrowed, but she kept running, eventually finding an exit.

Serena's eyes automatically lay on the sky over the line of trees that surrounded the building. A soft orange-pink hue of the planet's atmosphere surrounding a startling image of the neighboring planet, it circled a disturbing amount of the sky. It didn't feel right to have planet's so close together, she thought and then shivered. Twin planet's they called these. Too eerie. 

Quickly, she turned her gaze away, scanning the perimeters. People still a chaotic moving mass, though had fanned at the entrance and were more scattered. She was on a platform looking down. She hurried to rail, scanning for her friends. Ugh, there were hundreds of people out there!

After a minute, she found herself sending glances over her shoulder. What if the leader did decide to follow? Nerves sparking, she trotted down the steps to the side and to a more discreet place under a tree. Where could they be? Sighing, she leaned against the trunk, eyes drooping. 

How would she find them? There were thousands of people in the area! Great, just great. To make it worse, it was all her fault. Her eyes idly watched the people bustling by. What a wonderful mess. Alone on a foreign planet. Soon, her eyes strayed to the ground. It was hopeless to look for them. 

The crowd had dimmed to the normal bustling passerby's. She pushed herself off the tree, wandering into the crowd, head tilted down. How was it that almost over night crowds made her nervous? Always the paranoia of who was looking at her oddly---did they know? Of course, even when there wasn't another person in sight she was a wreck. She shut her eyes briefly. They didn't know where she was, they wouldn't find her. And no one on this planet could recognize her. She blinked. Except that silver haired leader. But… she didn't want to think of him. 

She stopped on the street, raising her hand to push away a strand of hair when pausing and looking at her hands. There were still bloodstains on them, from when she healed Endymion. Cautiously, she looked around and crossed her arms and tucked her hands away, peering for a water tank. There was one around there somewhere… She bit her lip, recognizing a hut and scurrying around the corner. It stood elevated from the ground, stretching the small area. She uncrossed her arms, almost smiling when she slipped them into the cool water. No one else was at the water tank.

"There was blood on your hands," said a smooth voice. 

Her body stiffened as she ducked her head farther. She looked into the water her hands drifted in, cursing at the cloud of red. "I think I already know that," she murmured. "I---cut myself from… I cut myself."

She jumped as a large tanned hand took hold of her left arm, turning it around, revealing her wrist. There was a strip of blood that hadn't dipped under the water. 

"It's dry." He took both of her hands, turning them over. They were washed, leaving them innocently without a gash or bruise. "There's no cut." 

She winced. Breathing slowly, she glanced up, instantly pulling away. "You!"


End file.
